Samsung gobbles Proximal Data for server-side SSD

Mighty chaebol figures to make better caching software - but is it ready to play?

Samsung has announced that it has slurped caching company Proximal Data, as first reported by The Reg, to try to enhance its SSD-based software for server systems.

The company specialises in server-side caching software with I/O intelligence that work within virtualised systems like ESXi hypervisor and Microsoft’s Hyper-V.

“Proximal Data holds core technology in the caching software area and has been marketing AutoCache software, a virtual cache storage solution that dramatically increases virtual machine density and performance by eliminating I/O bottlenecks, without disrupting IT operations,” Samsung said.

“With this acquisition, we will be able to further expand our SSD business in the server and data center markets, while continuing to provide the most advanced SSD solutions to customers.”

A storage industry analyst told The Reg that Proximal was a bit of an odd buy for Samsung, since the firm doesn’t really have the capacity to play around in the software layer just yet. Our insider said that Proximal has a good product but it’s a marginal one that would work better for another company that’s got more presence in the space already.

Samsung said that its purchase of Proximal follows from its 2012 acquisition of NVELO, an SSD caching software creator. The firm said it had been applying NVELO’s advanced caching software to its branded SSDs since last year.

Sammy reckons that this latest slurp, which it has not released financial details on, will add even more to its competitiveness in the server SSD sector. ®